In the Western administrative district of Moscow, among the islet of the reserved coniferous forest, there is a strictly guarded object. In the past it was the so-called Stalin's near dacha - a place where the father of peoples not only rested from the noisy and hectic Moscow, but also worked, meeting with his party associates and making decisions on which the fate of the world sometimes depended.
Plot in Kuntsevo
This two-story building, hidden from prying eyes, holds many secrets. Half a century ago, only those who knew it was due to their official position knew about its existence. Stalin's near dacha was a place both attractive and creepy. It was here that dizzying careers began, but from here they also went to the terrible world of prison bars and guard towers.
After the country's government moved to Moscow, Stalin chose the former estate of the oil industrialist Zubalov (a distant summer residence) as his country residence, located thirty-two kilometers from the capital, but later he decided to move closer. For this, the plot in Kuntsevo was the best suited, where there was a government sanatorium, in which Stalin repeatedly visited.
Summer house construction
It is known that the near dacha of Stalin in Kuntsevo began to be built in 1931 according to the project of architect M. I. Merzhanov. The already hurried work was significantly accelerated after the suicide of his second wife Nadezhda Alliluyeva, as the leader was in a hurry to leave Zubalovo, where too much reminded him of the recent tragedy.
The house was completed in 1933, and everything in it was carried out with strict observance of the instructions given by Stalin during his frequent visits to the construction site, but after five years he suddenly lost his temper, and the capricious owner demanded to dismantle and erect everything again. In the early forties in the country began the construction of an underground bunker shelter.
Continuation of construction work
It should be noted that the constant redevelopment and reconstruction of the building continued until the death of its owner. Initially, Stalin's near dacha was one-story, but after the war they built on the second floor, intended for guests. It was in his rooms that the head of the Chinese Communist Party, Mao Zedong, who arrived on a visit in 1949, stayed.
On the territory of the dacha there was also a service house, designed to protect the leader and his servants. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, a swimming pool for living fish was placed there, since Stalin did not use canned food, and cabinets in which wine supplies were stored. In the same room, a special place was allocated for bottles of home-made wine (a long-standing hobby of the owner of the cottage).
Small house of Stalin's dacha
Simultaneously with the main house, another one was built not far from it - a small one, in which there was also a study, a bedroom and an entrance hall. His daughter Svetlana stayed here during her visits to her father. The owner himself lived here infrequently. It is known, for example, that when in 1941 the surrender of Moscow to the Germans seemed inevitable, the near dacha of Joseph Stalin was mined along with other important state facilities. All these worrying months, the owner lived in a small house.
The path of the tuple
As a result of a convenient and close location to the capital, the government motorcade usually covered the Moscow-Stalin’s near dacha in no more than fifteen minutes. As contemporaries recall, cars, which were no more than three or four, moving at a speed of eighty kilometers per hour, followed through Mozhayskoe highway to Smolenskaya Square and then to Old Arbat. Also in the opposite direction.
But the usual route often changed at the request of Stalin himself. Suffering with pathological suspiciousness, constantly fearing ambushes and attempts, he used to unexpectedly order the driver to turn onto a particular street and continue on the road in the most unexpected way.
Hallway interior
Since Stalin's near dacha was intended not only for his residence, but also for work, and, consequently, for receiving visitors, her internal layout and furnishings corresponded to this purpose. Each arrived first of all got into a spacious, fifty-meter hallway, on which sides hangers were located, and the master was on the left, and no strangers were allowed to use it.
The walls of the hallway were lined with wooden panels, and on one of them hung a map of the world, on the other - Europe. In the center of the hanger, designed for guests, was a wide mirror that has survived to this day. It is curious that it was in front of him that Stalin was shaved daily by two hairdressers. Why in the hallway, and not in the bathroom or in the office? The answer probably lies also in his suspiciousness. Presumably, the leader was afraid to allow strangers, although clearly verified people, into the interior of the house.
Stalin's office
Stalin's usual place of work was a spacious room, more precisely, a hall located to the left of the hallway. In the middle of it was a large desk specially designed to make it convenient to lay out military maps. The interior of the room was complemented by a wood fireplace and a leather sofa set here for comfort and warmth, the same as in other rooms.
The setting of the country dining room
As a well-known Russian writer and historian Sergey Devyatov wrote in his book, which appeared in print in 2011, Stalin’s near dacha was the place for receptions and celebrations. A large dining room was specially designed for them, in which guests were taken directly from the hallway. The first thing that caught the eye of those who entered was the large portraits of Lenin and Gorky hanging in piers between the windows.
In the middle of the dining room was a polished table surrounded by rather simple and discreet chairs. The corner of the room was occupied by a small but very elegant salon piano, and after the war an automatic machine for playing phonograph records donated by one of the American delegations was added to it. There were also two sofas.
A characteristic feature of the room were curtains that did not reach the floor, as is customary, but only to the level of thermal radiators. This was done at the direction of Stalin himself. Obviously, this was not dictated by aesthetic considerations, but by the same suspiciousness: short curtains did not allow a potential attacker to hide behind them.
Strictly guarded facility
But anyway, it was this room that became fatal for him. It was here that on March 5, 1953 , on one of the already mentioned sofas, his life was cut short. Immediately after the death of the leader, a decision was made to organize a memorial museum on the territory of the dacha, but subsequent events - a revelatory speech by N. S. Khrushchev at the XX Congress of the CPSU and a number of publications that appeared in print - did not allow this project to be implemented.
Today, among other objects related to the history of our Motherland, Stalin's near dacha is of great interest. "How to get there?" - a question that many would like to get an answer to. But here they are disappointed. Despite the fact that it is located within the city, in the well-known Muscovites district of Fili-Davydkovo, near Poklonnaya Gora, the territory of the dacha is still a closed facility guarded by FSO officers. In order to go inside and see firsthand the situation in which many years of Stalin’s life passed, you need to have a special pass.